Calum Bonnington

GeoMarine Environmental Consultants Ltd.

Speaker: Managing Environmental Risk and Liability at CANECT West

Calum H. Bonnington, M.Sc. (Hons), P. Biol., R.P. Bio, Principal Consultant, Senior Fisheries Biologist, GeoMarine Environmental Consultants Ltd. Calum is a seasoned environmental consultant and project manager with over 30 years of experience spanning New Zealand and Western Canada. From coastal science and policy development to leading environmental oversight on the 1,000-km Trans Mountain Expansion Project, his career blends technical depth with strategic leadership.

In the first part of his career, Calum worked as a coastal scientist for a regional government in New Zealand. His role during these years involved developing policy and guidelines, enforcement of regulations, coastal hazard assessment and general state of the environment monitoring. Known for his effective communication with Indigenous communities and stakeholders, Calum can translate often complex scientific material into clear, actionable insights.

Initially, his work in Canada focused on the collection of fish and fish habitat information to support environmental applications, regulatory liaison and monitoring throughout construction and the design and implementation of instream enhancement measures to address compensation and offsetting needs. More recently, Calum oversaw the collection of all environmental technical data in support of regulatory applications for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project and continued to provide subject matter expertise throughout the regulatory process. Following regulatory approval, Calum established the environmental monitoring and oversight required to support construction and successful completion of the expansion project.

Calum specializes in the important step of liaison between regulators and proponents, to meet the needs of both parties and finding innovative ways to complete projects. He continues to provide clients with aquatic subject matter expertise and has expanded to take on larger project management roles on projects deemed important to the continued economic growth of Canada.